STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
PHOTO BY YANNA LANTZ
It’s a big creepy. Definitely edgy. And “The Pillowman,” being produced this week by The Spot, is without a doubt a 2-and-a-half-hour puzzle in theater form.
“The first duty of a storyteller is to tell a story,” Katurian Katurian tells his good cop/bad cop interrogators played by Kevin Wade and Peter Burke.
And there are a myriad of stories—so many it becomes difficult to figure out what’s real and what’s not.
Every actor in the play is a storyteller, and each does a masterful job of acting out the story under the direction of Yanna Lantz.
The play, by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, revolves around a short story writer played by Patrick Mazzella who finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare that resembles the dark twisted stories he’s written.
Someone is killing children using the same gruesome methods he used in his fairytales. His mentally handicapped brother, played convincingly by Brett Moellenberg, could be the culprit, following the example of the bedtime stories his brother has told him.
Or, is it Katurian himself, as the detectives suspect?
The cross examinations are nothing short of excruciating. Even so, there’s a pitch black comic touch running through the play that keeps the audience laughing.
Ida Belle Gorby plays a little girl who aspires to be Jesus to the chagrin of her sadistic parents played by Laurel Holland and Burke. Charlie Coulter plays another of the children.
And the Pillowman? Well, that would refer to a fluffy creature made of cushions who suffocates children to save them from a miserable future. Played by….well, you’ll have to see the play to find out.
Though it definitely involves some cringing, the 2003 has received numerous awards, including the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Play, the 2004 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play and two Tony Awards for production.
You can catch it at The Spot, 220 Lewis St. in Ketchum’s light industrial district at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 27-29. Tickets to Thursday’s performance are $15. The others are $20, available at www.spotsunvalley.com.
All performances are followed by talk backs.